House candidate tries to bring back the love

Harold Love announced today he is running for the District 58 House seat currently held by Rep. Mary Pruitt.

Love, who has worked as the pastor at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal in Nashville for the past decade, joins Steven Turner as announced candidates for the Democratic primary in District 58, which stretches from Bordeaux to North Nashville and down into parts of South Nashville.

Love’s name may sound familiar because his father served for 24 years in the state legislature, using the well-remembered slogan, “Keep Love in the House.”

Pruitt, who is 78 years old, has not announced if she will seek re-election.

“My father’s 24 years of service as a distinguished state Representative was based on a strong belief that politics wasn’t something you did as a career nor a money-making endeavor, but an opportunity to be a positive impact on people’s lives,” Love said in a press release.

Also announcing his candidacy today was Jason Powell, a leader of the Hope Gardens neighborhood association, and former challenger to Pruitt in 2006, before the district lines were re-drawn.

Powell enters what is expected to be a crowded Democratic field to replace retiring state Rep. Janis Sontany. Powell does not live in the district currently and may have to move in to represent it.